In recent years there has been a great increase in the interest in recreational sports and activities. Various mechanical and electrical scoreboards have been developed and are available for indicating the score during sporting events. Most of these scoreboards are permanent fixtures in stadiums or playing fields. The increased interest in organized sports at community levels, as well as sports in more casual situations in neighborhood parks and community playing fields, has resulted in a need for portable scoreboards.
One portable scorekeeping device, U.S. Pat. No. 3,246,411 to Aafedt, utilizes dual-sided cards with means for attachment to a table. This device provides for easy viewing and score changing. However, it requires the presence of a table. Another reference, U.S. Pat. No. 1,709,041 to Schutt, teaches a football down marker with numbers suspended from a horizontal bar. The down marker is provided with a spiked element for sticking in the ground. The disclosed device is portable and the spiked element provides a means for temporarily attaching the down marker to the ground.
Other various mechanical and electrical scoring devices have been disclosed. However, these systems have proved unsatisfactory for use during organized sporting events in community playing fields. Such community parks typically have numerous playing fields which are used by teams at various playing levels. Typically, communities do not have the resources for providing each playing field with a costly, permanent scoring device. A need exists for portable scoring devices which provide visibility from a distance and provide for easy breakdown, packaging, storage and transportation.
There is currently no system that addresses each of these features in a single apparatus. The present invention addresses these needs and provides other benefits not previously found in portable scoring devices of the prior art.